Google protects users from hackers with Password Checkup

Amidst recent incidences of compromise of private data, search engine giant Google has launched a new Chrome extension that has been designed to keep the private online accounts secure at all times. The Password Checkup does what the name exactly it says and makes sure that your username and password combination are secure. The web can indeed be an insecure place as there is malware and phishing mails that are waiting for the ones who are vulnerable.

The hackers do not leave any opportunity to steal data and can do it from anywhere and from anyone. Google is taking every effort to keep the users safe from such hackers and its latest effort is a Chrome extension which is known as the Password Checkup. The details are given in the Google Security blog and the Password Checkup checks on the password and username against the database of the exposed login credentials.

The extension checks the passwords against more than 4 billion credentials that the search engine knows to be unsafe. The users have to just install Password Checkup on Google Chrome and once it is installed the users will be able to see the Password Checkup icon in the browser bar. Everytime the users signs in to a site the search engine will check the login credentials to see if they are still safe to use. If the login credentials are not on the data base then the users will be free to continue but if they match a set in Google’s database they will be alerted with a problem.

The search engine will then suggest to change the password to something else not already exposed. Google is keen to emphasize how secure this process is. The login credentials are strongly hashed and encrypted when it is sent to Google and the company uses blinding and private information retrieval to search through its list of logins.

Photo Credits: PC World